How to Write the Best Case Study: the Secret Strategies
When it comes to marketing, few things are as important as case studies. How can you not with so many benefits? A well-written and executed study can help a company in so many ways including improved conversion rates, increased traffic, and more leads. In this blog post we will discuss the benefits of a case study followed by how a business should write one to ensure they get results from it. We will also discuss some major pitfalls that people fall into when writing their own case study.
Benefits of a Case Study:
Case studies can be used to benefit your business in multiple ways. Below is a quick list of why you need to start taking advantage of case studies.
Used for lead generation and marketing. Similar to other marketing strategies like sales copy and video advertising, case studies allow you to tell potential buyers about previous success that you've had with the product or service in order to entice them into buying it.
A case study isn't just for marketing purposes, it can also be used by the sales team, client success managers and drive new traffic to the website. How? By giving a detailed account of what your product or service is used for.
Case studies are also useful as social proof, when you're not looking to sell but instead want people interested in the benefits of using your services. Plus they help improve customer retention and reduce churn rates by answering any questions potential customers might have about how it works.
How to Write a Case Study
People have been writing about their adventures in storytelling for centuries. From the Odyssey to A Christmas Carol, the art of storytelling is something that has been around since cavemen first started constructing stories with words and drawings on walls. In today's world, storytelling is still alive and well in the form of novels, short stories, TV shows, and movies. It seems as if people can't get enough of telling a good story. How does this relate to case studies? Well, a case study is a type of storytelling that tells the success story of one customer who had a problem and how they were able to fix it thanks to your product or service.
Step 1
The first step in writing a case study is selecting the success story that you want to share with the world. Most likely you'll go with the customer that has been the most successful with your product or service. You'll want to pick a story that has a happy ending and one where you made a massive difference in their life, business, etc..
Step 2
Once a story has been selected, you then want to consider what you want to cover in the case study. Ask yourself these questions when writing and planning out the case study: what decisions were made? how did it go? what was learned? does this service work for your business now? how have things changed since they first started using this strategy? how did it benefit their company?
You also want to include general numbers or results if applicable. Some business owners want to see clear ROI and will skim over the story part and go straight to the numbers.
One of the most important things to remember is that your case study shouldn't be about you. Instead, it should focus on how this customer used your service and why they were happy with the results so much so that they are willing to endorse them to other people.
Step 3
Finally, include a summary of the story and end by writing about why people should care about this particular success story. How will this help them? How do they benefit by coming to your company now?
Avoid the Major Pitfalls of a Case Study
It's important to avoid the common mistakes of a case study. The most common mistake we see are companies providing way too much information. This can create a lack of interest on the part of your readers and even worse leads to them browsing away from your website.
Another mistake that companies make is trying to force their case study into one particular format. This will not work well for everyone, so it's important to speak in terms that are tailored specifically towards your target audience while still making it applicable for the masses.
A third mistake businesses make with their case studies is a lack of visuals. It's important to sustain the attention span of your readers and a wall of text can lose someone quickly. Making your case study visually appealing is easier than you think. All you need to do is have a good-looking font, make sure there are plenty of paragraphs that break up the text and include graphics where possible. Your visuals can be anything from charts or graphs to pictures of your product in use. This will help keep readers engaged for longer periods of time!
Need Help Creating and Writing Case Studies?
Case studies are one of the best value add marketing materials that you can take advantage of early! Looking for other marketing and sales ideas similar to case studies? Give us a shout and we can help build in customer feedback, retention or referral based items into your marketing strategy
